Small groups, fun learning!
Say it in writing please!
As we grow wiser (aka older), we develop an array of tools to help us cope with our weakening learning abilities. One of these very popular tools is to write down everything so we don’t forget. We have lists, calendars, and notes everywhere. Thanks to today’s technology, some of us are able to carry them all in our pockets (pda, IPhone?.).
Hey, I even have a grocery-shopping list that updates itself! How cool is that! Well, it is all very practical and it really makes our lives easy!
But when it get to learning a foreign language, this, oh so useful tool, becomes one of our worst enemies! Simply because no one is walking around with a teleprompter above his head!
So when we want or need to engage in a conversation, lets say in Spanish, we are LOST! Suddenly we forgot every thing we learned, we don’t understand even the most simple sentence.
Most foreign language programs use writing, grammar, exercise drills on paper to build up your language skills. It is an old trick that very few teachers have challenged because it makes the students feel good in the classroom and it is so much easier to teach this way. Who in his right mind would try to change this, when it makes preparation and teaching so much easier?
The result: so many of us, after weeks, months, years of learning a foreign language come
to the conclusion that it must be US? not the program, not the method used, not the teacher? Are we just unable to learn a foreign language?
I have some great news: it is not YOU! it is the way you have been taught, the way you are learning. Using reading/writing, that is never used in a verbal exchange. I could go into what the MRIs and scientists of our world have found out about how our brain is learning and using language, but it would be long and probably boring. If you are interested in the details, contact me; I will be glad to direct you to these wonderful findings.
So what is left to do? Find a program that doesn’t take the short cut! Teaching successfully without relying solely on writing, grammar and rules requires very skilled teachers, not just a native who happens to live next to you or to the school you are going to. Find a program where the teachers will give you a much better tool to use the language that you are learning.
Teachers at Savoir Faire Language Institute must understand this concept and engage the students with techniques and exercises that develop alternative tools for them to be able to communicate. They use audio and video in their classrooms to ‘train’ your brain to recall all the vocabulary, verbs, you so patiently learned. They use role-plays and NEST (no English Speaking Techniques) to help you gain confidence and fluency.
Be kind to yourself, find a program that will really teach you how to speak and understand the language you are learning.
Joëlle Petit Adkins
www.savoirfaire-
310-378-1086
"Speaking a foreign language within your reach and in your neighborhood"
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
